Withdrawing
Spending more time isolated, disengaging from friends, family or things they used to enjoy.
Home › Youth Mentoring
Youth mentoringEvery young person deserves someone in their corner
Mentoring isn't therapy and it isn't babysitting. It's a real relationship with a consistent adult who listens without judgement, models something better, and keeps showing up — especially on the weeks that are hard.
Who it's for
Mentoring might help if a young person is…
Struggling at school
Attendance slipping, conflict with staff, or losing motivation and belief that it's worth turning up.
Low on confidence
Anxious in social situations, hard on themselves, or avoiding anything that risks failure.
Between stages
Finishing school, looking for work, moving out — and unsure what happens next or how to start.
Living with disability
Needing support to build independence, social connection and life skills alongside their NDIS goals.
Just needing a mate
Not every young person is in crisis. Sometimes they simply need a steady adult who's genuinely interested in them.
What sessions look like
Real conversations, not clipboard sessions
Nobody opens up sitting across a desk. So we don't use one.
Sessions usually run 2–4 hours, weekly or fortnightly, and happen wherever the young person is most themselves — a basketball court, a skate park, the car, a workshop, a food court. The activity is the doorway; the relationship is the work.
Over time, goals get woven in naturally: a résumé written between rounds of mini golf, a hard conversation on a long drive, a first solo train trip that nobody makes a big deal of.
- Sport & gym
- Driving & life admin
- Cooking
- Gaming & tech
- Fishing & outdoors
- Music & art
- Job hunting
A month of mentoring — one example
- Meet-and-greet. No agenda, no forms on the table.
- Something they picked — gym, fishing, a drive.
- The first real conversation, usually sideways-on.
- A small goal gets set, because they raised it.
This is an illustration, not a fixed program. Every young person is different, so the activities, the pace and the goals are built around what they're actually interested in and comfortable with — and adjusted as that changes. What doesn't change is the turning up: trust isn't built in a session, it's built by being there for the fifth one.
Matching
The match is the whole thing
A mentor a young person doesn't click with is worse than no mentor at all. We take matching seriously and we're honest when it isn't working.
-
We listen first
What they're into, how they communicate, what's gone wrong with support before, and what they'd never want repeated.
-
We propose a mentor
Chosen for shared interests, temperament and lived experience — not just who has a free Thursday.
-
Meet and greet
A low-key first meeting with no commitment. The young person gets a genuine say in whether it goes ahead.
-
Trial period
The first few sessions are a trial both ways. If it's not right, we change mentors without drama or awkwardness.
-
Consistency
Same mentor, same rhythm. Trust is built through repetition, and we protect that fiercely.
-
Regular check-ins
Families and support coordinators hear from us — progress, wins, concerns, and anything that needs a different approach.
For parents & carers
You don't have to explain everything perfectly, and you don't have to have tried everything else first. Tell us what's going on and we'll tell you honestly whether mentoring is likely to help.
You'll always know what's happening — without us breaking the trust the young person places in their mentor.
For schools, coordinators & agencies
We work alongside support coordinators, wellbeing teams, allied health and case managers. Expect quick responses, clear session notes and reporting that's actually useful at review time.
Happy to attend care team meetings and contribute to plans and reports.
Safety
Safeguarding isn't a checkbox
Working with young people and people with disability carries real responsibility. Every mentor and support worker at LCT holds a current Working with Children Check and NDIS Worker Screening Check, is trained in first aid and CPR, and is bound by the NDIS Code of Conduct — registered or not, that applies to us.
Sessions are documented, communication with families is expected, and concerns get escalated — not sat on. If you ever want to raise something, you can do it directly with us, or externally through the NDIS Commission.
Immediate risk?
If a young person is in danger right now, call 000. For crisis support: Lifeline 13 11 14, Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800, 13YARN 13 92 76.
Ready to talk it through?
A quick phone call costs nothing and often clears up more than a week of searching online.